Nice Bok, eh?



Recently I spied these two common crow butterflies engaged in something of a tryst on my clothes line. After blushing, and then quickly taking stock of the incumbent ethical considerations I fetched my camera in a flurry of entomomania.

The lovers were unfazed by my voyeuristic intrusion, allowing me time to think about how I might exploit their love for the purpose of image making...

I experimented with composition, trying various angles and subject placements etc. I played with using the clothes line wires as lead in-lines, giving the image perspective and depth, as well as an added geometrical aspect. Ultimately though, I decided that the subjects themselves, along with the peg and single line constituted a sufficiently pleasing image.

In terms of added drama and visual interest, the bokeh in the background had already achieved it, I thunk. The only challenge remaining was to capture optimal bokeh* in relation to the subject. In experimenting with this I found that the darker bokeh at the perimeters of the image provided a natural vignette. The large area of white above and behind the subject drew focus to centre of the shot, and also allowed the outline of the butterfly's head to be seen.

Thusly, it was consideration of a few basic elements that facilitated the construction of a simple and pleasing composition. Nice bok, eh?!


* In photography, bokeh is the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in the out-of-focus parts of an image produced by a lens. Bokeh has been defined as "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light".